PASSIONATE Brexiteers have near exploded with joy at the prospect of new, blue passports when the UK crashes out of the European Union.
Reports yesterday confirmed that the Home Office will go retro from October 2019 and replace the current passport, and its fancy continental burgundy hues, with an “iconic”, patriotic, true-blue look.
Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage responded to the announcement by tweeting “Happy Brexmas!”
Even Theresa May burst with jingoistic glee: “The UK passport is an expression of our independence and sovereignty – symbolising our citizenship of a proud, great nation.That’s why we have announced that the iconic #bluepassport will return after we leave the European Union in 2019.”
Nicola Sturgeon tweeted back: “The open, inclusive, civic, internationalist Scottish independence movement that I’m so proud to be part of could not be further removed from this insular, inward looking, blue passport-obsessed nonsense. Never has ‘stop the world, Scotland wants to get on’ felt more relevant.”
It’s been thirty years since the burgundy passport was originally issued – the first ones being handed out in Glasgow.
Labour MP Mary Creagh tweeted: “No-one under 45 will have owned a blue passport, and most will think they’re not worth £50 billion and crashing the economy.”
Farage was undimmed. He added: “In the 2016 referendum, we wanted our passports back. Now we’ve got them back!”
What makes it all really odd is that the European Union has never had the power to force the UK to change the colour of the British passport.
It was the decision of the UK to move from very dark blue to burgundy, during the 1980s.
It was all part of trying to make life easier for travellers and border officials – Croatia even kept its blue passport when it joined the EU in 2013.
The only legal requirement to harmonise EU passports related to security standards.
Tory MP Andrew Rosindell, who campaigned to bring back the blue passport, tweeted: “the restoration of our own British passport is a powerful symbol that Britain is Back!”
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